by Dan Sodergren, co founder of www.yourflock.co.uk
There are many different ways to become a great place to work. Often, they are tied into a purpose. Or a mission. Or a way of the whole company working together. But also, they can come from an organisation that finds cleverer ways to recognise and reward their employees. This former point that recognition is key to keeping your employees. And team members are happy and productive.
BUT, this giving of recognition is not something British bosses are good at. As Britain lacks in the charts of recognition – something many of us want but simple don’t get.
“Over 65% of employees don’t feel recognised at work”
Achievers Report 2022
This desire from recognition and ability to give feedback is one of the reasons why we built Your FLOCK. Whereas the need for a reward is another reason we built it. Which is a deeper point connected to this article.
When many people have great places they have worked or want to work. They often think of the amazing company culture or the sense of belonging they had. Or it might be the inspiring leader they had or the nice colleagues they worked with. Conversely, people leave bad bosses. And where there is a lack of support for themselves. And in businesses with bad or toxic cultures. The team might lack engaged employees. Or a proper conscious way of cultivating a positive employee experience.
We at Your FLOCK the team engagement platform – believe that technology can play a role in helping create a positive company culture. And develop team leaders. To help them be able to give more recognition and increase the happiness of their teams. And this use of technology is a key competitive advantage for those that use it. As According to “The Power of Employee Recognition,”:
“Only 14% of organizations have the essential tools needed for giving recognition and rewards to their employees.”
HOW TO GIVE REWARDS AND RECOGNITION:
There are many different ways of doing this. This article is inspired by the 125 different ways here. Here are our favourite 10 different ways with some thoughts beside them.
Recognize and reward employees with time
This can be time off. And then to work async. Flexibility as to WHEN people work is high up on the list of favourite perks. Or perhaps it’s where they work and so it’s time to themselves working from home. Or it could even be allowing sabbaticals. It could be anything. Remember the more rested your team feels the more eager they will be to work.
Recognize and reward employees with food and drinks
This is a classic. And has often been seen in tech companies. And in the new ways of trying to tempt people back into the office. With free food. Free breakfasts. Or it could be eating together and this being paid for by the company. As meeting together is key for employee happiness. Which is what we are all about at Your FLOCK. But you could also reward them with food and drinks gifts for themselves at home. Or in teams together on a pub crawl or wine tasting or a healthy food drive. Or learning how to cook together.
Recognize and reward employees with gifts
Linked into the ideas above. Where you can give food and drinks as gifts. You can give a variety of different gifts (not just pay rises). These gifts can even be tax deductible (see this excellent RJF accountancy blog about this) Our only advice here is to make the gifts things people would actually use and like. Yes, you can give company merchandise for when they are onboarding. And yes – everyone working from home needs the right equipment. So standing desks and nice chairs etc. But are they gifts? Things like gym memberships used to be great. But is it now more like Uber credits and Deliveroo discounts? Or tickets to their favourite event? The best thing is to ask your people.
Recognize and reward employees with activities
In this we include any kind of lesson which isn’t connected to their job role. So, learning how to cook, or play tennis, or even draw and get creative. Or playing golf like the MPA organise. Which is great individual competition. But.. This can also be group and team activities like walk and talk tours, or just a group walk on a Friday afternoon. Like Fresh walks do. And our culture award winning clients at IMD did. Or a team yoga session. Or mindfulness. All of these have to be part of our mental health and well being strategies. As this all ties into your employee retention. Not just using Your FLOCK – the team engagement platform – which has value-based activities included.
Recognize and reward employees with services
With services you could bring providers into the office. This could be part of the reason your team meet together. It could be anything from manicures to haircuts. Or even spa days and massages. We have even heard of companies organising cleaners to clean their employee houses. Whilst they are in the office. And paying for this too – which I personally think we should do at Your FLOCK.
Recognize and reward employees improving their workplace environment
This one is a tricky one. As creating a positive physical office environment. Even if you are hybrid working – is key to success. So is it a reward? We at Your FLOCK would say you have to go above and beyond to do something that rewards your employees here. A fuzzball table and a slide into a ball bit is no longer going to cut it. Neither is a meditation room. But for diversity and inclusion. A space for different religions is always going to be a nice touch as inclusive. Depending how big your organisation is.
Recognize and reward employees with financial rewards
This is the one that most bosses believe is the key factor for people. In fact, the data says otherwise. And over a certain amount of money. There is no impact to human and work happiness. You are much better at becoming a better leader. And creating a more positive company culture rather than giving people more money. Maybe not so much now with the cost-of-living crisis. As paying people a fair wage is the cornerstone of a successful organisation. But you can go beyond this and so share options are a nice touch. As Marcia Kanazawa states in her article that inspired this one:
“Employee profit-sharing plans (EPSPs) are great incentives for the employees. In order to get their stake in the company, employees are motivated and engaged to work for profit making.”
Recognize and reward employees with altruism
Another way to motivate people might be also to be nicer as an organisation to other people as well. So not just recognising them and paying your employees more money. But giving some of that money to charities. Or tying profits into helping support the UN key things like BSI helps – as Your FLOCK are looking to do. Or raising money for worth well causes like the MPA does with it’s Prevent Breast Cancer event.
Recognize and reward employees by empowering their knowledge
One of the BIGGEST reasons people leave an organisation is the lack of career and personal development. Very few people don’t want to learn new things and get better. If they don’t get the opportunities in your organisation. They will move to somewhere that will give this to them. So think about:
– peer to peer training,
– buddy systems,
– reverse and normal mentoring (like facilitated by My2Be)
– and even training through online courses.
There is so much you can do. Obviously, Your FLOCK also comes with some personal learning and development – but this can be taken so much further.
Recognize and reward employees in simple but powerful ways
Now some of the key things you can do – as a team leader or manager (and even boss) don’t cost you ANYTHING to do. They just take time. And a different way of thinking. For example, giving people the safe space to give honest feedback is highly powerful. But so is recognition itself. And not just obvious things like employee of the month. Or working anniversaries, and letters of appreciation and simply saying thank you. But also, actions based on their values and your understanding of them. How can you do this. Well, one way is that you can use Your FLOCK the team engagement platform to help you. It’s why we built it – to help a million people be happier at work.
CONCLUSION:
As we talked about here – There are many different ways to recognise and reward your employees. And doing them will help your company culture develop, even when working remotely. Or with employees only occasionally back to the office.
The MPA is The Voice of Manchester’s Communications Community. The largest of its type in Europe and 100 years old this year! The MPA are a collaborative, not-for-profit membership organisation. Comprising over 2,500 people just like you. They aim to bring together, support and collaborate with the creative and media industry in Manchester.
They are committed to helping Manchester become a great place to work. And championing that great places in Manchester to work. Especially in the creative, digital and tech industries so we at Your FLOCK are proud to sponsor the MPA awards. And their new category “Great Place To Work,”
Want to come along to the awards? We have one ticket up for grabs. Sign up to Your FLOCK and drop our CEO an email on Michal@YourFLOCK.co.uk for your chance to join us.
References for the blog
Achievers stat
https://www.achievers.com/gb/resources/e-books-gb/ultimate-guide-to-employee-recognition/
About the 125 different ways
About the 4-day weeks
https://buffer.com/resources/four-day-work-week/
About taking a sabbatical
https://buffer.com/resources/time-off-after-hiring/
About the legal walk day and IMD
About MPA golf day
https://www.mpa.org.uk/spring-and-summer-dates-for-your-diary/
About MPA charity lunch
https://www.mpa.org.uk/events/#!event/2022/10/5/mpa-charity-lunch
About the MPA
The Voice of Manchester’s Communications Community. The largest of its type in Europe and 100 years old this year! The MPA are a collaborative, not-for-profit membership organisation comprising over 2,500 people just like you. They aim to bring together, support and collaborate with the creative and media industry in Manchester. They are passionate about our great city and the work it produces and they believe if we work together, we will all achieve more. Join the MPA. https://www.mpa.org.uk/#join
About Your FLOCK
YourFLOCK the team engagement platform Use Your FLOCK. Discover Your Team’s Motivations. Develop Your #companyculture. All whilst you’re #hybridworking.
Find out more at www.YourFLOCK.co.uk
Future reading:
https://www.rewardgateway.com/uk/blog/21-key-employee-recognition-statistics
https://www.penguins.co.uk/incentive-travel-blog/10-insane-stats-about-reward-and-recognition
